34 



NA TURE 



[May 14, 1908 



ing upon the climatology of Belgium testify to his 

 skill and energy. He was well qualified for this 

 position because' meteorology had for him many at- 

 tractions. As early as 1876 he tried to give greater 

 uniformitv to the method of meteorological observing 

 by publishing a code of instructions for observers, and 

 throughout an active life he exhibited a keen interest 

 ill this branch of physics. His rain-chart of Belgium 

 is a specimen of what he could accomplish by in- 

 genuity and painstaking industry. 



If M. Lancaster's services were not brilliant, they 

 were persistent and practical. He admirably filled the 

 |)Osition in which he was placed, and by his compara- 

 tivelv early death at the age of fifty-nine years the 

 observatory has lost a capable and devoted servant. 

 In his lifetime his scientific ardour was adequately 

 acknowledged. He was a member of many learned 

 societies at home and abroad, and in addition to being 

 Chevalier de I'Ordre de Leopold, he was decorated 

 with the Ordre de la Couronne du Congo, La Croi.x 

 civique de i"* Classe, and la Croix commemorative 

 du Regne de S. M. Leopold H. 



Three years ago the lale Sir Mirliael Foster described 

 In these columns (vol. Ixxi., p. 443) the foundation by 

 Prof. h. Mosso of the Col d'Olen Laboratory, at an alti- 

 tude of 3000 iTjetres on the southern slopes of Monte Rosa. 

 On that occasion it was pointed out that the financial 

 condition of the laboratory left much to be desired, and 

 the hope was expressed that Prof. Mosso would secure 

 ere long the necessary additional funds required. We are 

 glad to learn, from a pamphlet descriptive of recent work 

 at the laboratory, that the income of the institution has 

 improved greatly, the subscriptions now reaching 117,504 

 francs, being very near the 120,000 francs originally con- 

 sidered necessary. It has been decided that the affairs of 

 the laboratory shall be administered by a committee con- 

 sisting of the professors of physiology, botany, and hygiene 

 in the University of Turin, with the president and treasurer 

 of the Italian Alpine Club. Prof. A. Mosso is the presi- 

 dent, and Prof. O. Mattirolo the secretary. As was 

 mentioned last week, two places in the laboratory are 

 reserved to England, on the nomination of the Royal 

 Society. Applications for a place should be made in the 

 first instance to the Royal Society. 



We regret to see the announcement of the death, in his 

 eighty-fourth year, of Prof. K. Mobius, professor of zoology 

 in the University of Berlin. 



On Thursday next. May 21, Dr. .Mexander Scott will 

 deliver the first of a course of three lectures at the Royal 

 Institution on "The Chemistry of Photography." 



Prof. .A. Lawrence Rotch, the founder and director of 

 Blue Hill Meteorological Observatory, Massachusetts, 

 U.S.A., has been elected an honorary member of the Royal 

 Meteorological Society. 



A Reuter message h'om .Athens announces that the 

 German Emperor has presented Prof. Dornfeld, head of 

 the German Archaeological Institute there, with a sum of 

 5000 marlvs (250!.) for the purpose of starting excavations 

 on the site of the ancient Pylos. 



At the meeting of the National -Xcademy of Science held 

 in Washington on April 23, the following foreign 

 associates were elected : — Prof. Svante A. Arrhenius, 

 Stockholm: Prof. J. Larmor, Sec.R.S., Cambridge; Dr. 

 Ivan P. Pavlov, St. Petersburg ; Prof. Hugo R. van 

 Seeliger, Munich ; and Prof. T. Barrois, Lille. 



NO. 201 1, VOL. 78] 



The death is announced of Dr. Hermann Wedding, pro- 

 fessor of metallurgy at the Berlin School of Mines. He 

 was an honorary member of the Iron and Steel Institute, 

 and in 1896 received the Bessemer gold medal of that 

 society. He translated Dr. Percy's works on metallurgy 

 into German, and was the author of a large number of 

 important metallurgical treatises. 



The Paris correspondent of the Times states that, within 

 a year, in virtue of a contract with a French firm, Spain 

 is to be provided with wireless telegraphy stations. The 

 Canaries and the Balearics are to receive, respectively, 

 seven and two stations, which will keep them constantly 

 in touch with the fifteen stations of the Peninsular coast. 

 It is anticipated that radio-telegraphic communications will 

 shortly be arranged between Pernambuco and Tenerife. 

 In that case the Spanish stations will form a link between 

 Europe and South America. 



I.N the Journal of the Franklin Institute (vol. clxv., 

 No. 4) Dr. Persifor Frazer traces the history of the 

 Franklin Institute from its foundation in 1824 to the pre- 

 sent time, giving portraits of the eminent men who have 

 helped in the development of the society. A subscription 

 of 50,000 dollars, given to the building fund by Mrs. Anna 

 W. Walker in memory of her father, has assured the 

 institute a new lease of life under greatlv improved con- 

 ditions. 



The death is announced of Mr. Caleb Barlow, chief 

 preparator of fossils in the British Museum (Natural 

 History). Mr. Barlow entered the British Museum as a 

 mason in 1874, and gradually acquired remarkable skill 

 in the preparation and restoration of fossil skeletons. He 

 was especially successful in mounting imperfect specimens 

 and modelling missing parts to complete them. Much of 

 his unoflicial time was devoted to other institutions, and 

 examples of his skilful work are to be found in many 

 museums. 



The Coih/i/cv rciniiis of the Paris Academy of Sciences 

 for May 4 contains a communication, by M. Alfred Angot, 

 with respect to the application of wireless telegraphy to 

 the forecasting of the weather. The communication is 

 practically amplifying the note by M. Bigourdan, to which 

 reference was made in Nature of May 7, and gives a 

 resinne of the present situation. It is mentioned that for 

 the last year the Meteorological Office has received each 

 day wireless messages from several ships, the information 

 being regularly published in the Daily Weather Report. 

 M. Angot states that this information adds somewhat to 

 our knowledge of the state of the atmosphere over the 

 .Atlantic. He directs attention to the report of Dr. Shaw 

 on this subject to the International Meteorological Com- 

 mittee at Paris in September, 11)07. It is pointed out that 

 the obstacle to the extension of the use of wireless 

 messages for weather forecasting is one purely of finance, 

 and the necessary expense precludes the English and French 

 weather offices from taking full advantage of the oppor- 

 tunity afforded. 



"The Daylight Saving Bill," which passed its second 

 reading in the House of Commons on March 26, and is 

 now before a committee of the House, proposes that early 

 on the morning of each of the first four Sundays in April 

 all the public clocks shall be set forward twenty minutes 

 and be set back twenty minutes on each of the first four 

 Sunday mornings in September. Cape Town has been cited 

 as an example to show how easily the origin of public time 

 can be changed. But Sir David Gill shows, in a letter 

 in Tuesday's Times, that even to change the origin of 

 time once for all requires careful preparation, and that to 



